Religious Studies

Additional Navigation

Research will be a crucial part of your work. Hamilton religious studies majors have, for instance, studied religious spaces in transition in a nearby city and the religious lives of local refugees. Through your coursework you will develop an understanding of religion as a powerful element of culture and human experience, not just as social institution or dogma.

About the Major

Students will choose from an array of options within the interdisciplinary program. Majors will do work in fields such as philosophy, anthropology, sociology, history and more. Religious studies at Hamilton emphasizes personal and social identity, text and narrative, historical encounters among traditions, and existential and theological dimensions of cultures. Courses span a large range of religious traditions.

I would be remiss not to mention the fantastic writing training that I received as a religious studies major. Professors Seager, Williams and Ravven were instrumental in helping me shape my own voice and write with confidence.

Billy Ford ’10 — Religious studies major

Students explore critical, diverse perspectives on many of the world's religious traditions. They may study the Bible, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Eastern religions and Native American traditions – and the many cultural, social and artistic means by which religion is expressed and represented.

Meredith Moss

A Sampling of Courses

In order to develop a broad understanding of the religious lives of Native Americans, we explore diverse practices and worldviews. We begin with an examination of how Native American worldviews are unique and differ from modern-Western worldviews. With this grounding, we delve into explorations of the multifaceted history of Native American traditions including the Ghost Dance, the Sun Dance, religious freedom issues pertaining to the use of peyote, struggles over sacred places, and complex native engagements with Christianity. Writing-intensive.Oral Presentations.

This course explores a variety of roles religion has played in American culture(s) and some of the ways that American culture has influenced Americans’ religious practices. We will focus on three areas: identity (Americanism), politics (Ballots), and economics (Consumption). In particular, we will consider how religion is involved in the construction of American identity and the exclusion of some people from American polity; how religion is (and is not) intertwined with our political system; and how religion affects – and is affected by – Americans’ economic practices

A close reading of Spinoza's masterpiece, The Ethics, with a view to understanding its contemporary implications in the light of the new brain sciences. Writing-intensive.Oral Presentations.

This course develops a nuanced understanding of Islam and its role in shaping socio-religious and political landscape of modern and pre-modern South Asia. Questioning misconceptions of Islam, it examines its mideast origins, Qura'n, theology, law, religious practices, Shi'i and Sufi traditions, expansion in South Asia, colonialism, and modernity. Readings include secondary, literary, architectural and archaeological sources.

The Self Beyond Itself: Ethics, Science, and Religion.
Multidisciplinary Study of why and when people are ethical --and why and when they are not. Review of contemporary research of neuroscientists on the moral capacity. (Proseminar.) Maximum enrollment, 16. H Ravven. Writing-intensive.Oral Presentations.Proseminar.

The religious in the films of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. As American New Wave auteurs they contribute to the emergence of a new sacramental style in American film. We pay attention to the film traditions that inform their development, e.g. Italian neo-realism, horror, film noir and French New Wave. A look at the influence of their Roman-Catholic, Italian-American religious culture.

Native American Spiritualities
129FS

In order to develop a broad understanding of the religious lives of Native Americans, we explore diverse practices and worldviews. We begin with an examination of how Native American worldviews are unique and differ from modern-Western worldviews. With this grounding, we delve into explorations of the multifaceted history of Native American traditions including the Ghost Dance, the Sun Dance, religious freedom issues pertaining to the use of peyote, struggles over sacred places, and complex native engagements with Christianity. Writing-intensive.Oral Presentations.

Americanism, Ballots, and Consumption: The ABCs of American Religion
134F

This course explores a variety of roles religion has played in American culture(s) and some of the ways that American culture has influenced Americans’ religious practices. We will focus on three areas: identity (Americanism), politics (Ballots), and economics (Consumption). In particular, we will consider how religion is involved in the construction of American identity and the exclusion of some people from American polity; how religion is (and is not) intertwined with our political system; and how religion affects – and is affected by – Americans’ economic practices

Islam and Modernity in South Asia
256F

This course develops a nuanced understanding of Islam and its role in shaping socio-religious and political landscape of modern and pre-modern South Asia. Questioning misconceptions of Islam, it examines its mideast origins, Qura'n, theology, law, religious practices, Shi'i and Sufi traditions, expansion in South Asia, colonialism, and modernity. Readings include secondary, literary, architectural and archaeological sources.

The Self Beyond Itself
260/460F

The Self Beyond Itself: Ethics, Science, and Religion.
Multidisciplinary Study of why and when people are ethical --and why and when they are not. Review of contemporary research of neuroscientists on the moral capacity. (Proseminar.) Maximum enrollment, 16. H Ravven. Writing-intensive.Oral Presentations.Proseminar.

Raging Gods: Scorsese and Coppola's Religious Films
421S

The religious in the films of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. As American New Wave auteurs they contribute to the emergence of a new sacramental style in American film. We pay attention to the film traditions that inform their development, e.g. Italian neo-realism, horror, film noir and French New Wave. A look at the influence of their Roman-Catholic, Italian-American religious culture.